


Here Is a Heart

by jocelyncade



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff, Found Family, Holidays, M/M, Post canon, The The Adventure Zone Candlenights Exchange 2017, ttazce2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 06:18:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13381929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jocelyncade/pseuds/jocelyncade
Summary: The IPRE crew are finally happy. It's Candlenights, and they're together. That's all they could want, and Kravitz is, frankly, honored they accepted him into their tight-knit circle so quickly.





	Here Is a Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AnonymousPuzzler](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonymousPuzzler/gifts).



> Happy Candlenights, AnonymousPuzzler!  
> I worked real hard on this so I hope you love it. <3
> 
> Title Inspired from Here Is a Heart - Jesse Owens Young!

The sweater itched at Kravitz’s skin like he thought only a forgotten to-do list was able to. He hastily adjusted the collar, hoping to alleviate at least a small portion of the woolen scratchiness, but to no avail. 

 

Kravitz sighed, exhaling slowly and deliberately. If he couldn’t do anything about the sweater - lovingly, but below averagely, handcrafted by Lup, out-of-practice with the whole “having hands” thing - he may as well just put it to the back of his mind and focus on the warmth of the fire to his left and the chatter to his left.    
  
He sat on the floor, wrapped in a blanket that smelled like Lup did - smoke and sandalwood - banished from trying to help with the dinner preparations, and he breathed in the atmosphere. 

 

In the kitchen, Lup and Taako shined. Even after all that time, Lup fell back in step with her brother almost better than he did, still adjusting to working with this much food again. Whisking ingredients together, fluffing the light brown stuffing, pouring a shining, viscous mixture overtop the ham, their hands passed things back and forth as they cooked in tandem, not missing a beat with the other, or the conversation around them that they absentmindedly threw quips into. Seeing Taako be this happy filled Kravitz with a quiet fondness. 

 

Lup tossed a small tomato into the air out of nowhere, Magnus darting his head forward and catching it deftly in his mouth. His booming laughter echoed through the house as he held up a hand to anyone who would return his high-five. Carey snickered, grabbing a bowl of finger food from in front of her, shifting her weight in Killian’s lap, who let her re-adjust before wrapping her arms around her wife once again and resting her head on her back in quiet bliss. Carey tossed food at Magnus seemingly at random, him catching it expertly each time. 

 

Lup smirked at the new energy she’d wrought, chuckling when he finally missed, the pretzel falling to the carpet and quickly being eaten by Magnus’ Coonhound.    
The pup had been sitting patiently beneath his chair for the opportunity, letting his ears get ruffled by Angus, who had given up trying to be of use in the kitchen and was letting himself enjoy doing nothing. 

 

To satiate the eager guests, Lup had made a plate of small desserts before everyone had arrived, and now that the food was almost done being cooked, Taako had decided it was his turn to shine and finish up.

“Lup, I don’t care if this is your kitchen. Go do something fun”, he had said, kicking even her out too. 

 

Lup settled down next to Kravitz, passing him a cookie and draping an arm around his shoulders.   
  
“How you doin’ there, Ghost Rider?”    
  
“Just fine, Lup. You seem relaxed.” 

 

“Do I? I hadn’t noticed.” She smirked. “Might have something to do with all these assholes, eh?”

 

Kravitz laughed. “Probably.”

 

“Taako’s bein’ a drama queen again. The fact that you put up with him? A godsend, my man. I love my little bro, don’t get me wrong, but he’s a handful.”   
  
“He’s been less so lately, now that you’re back. He’s keeping busy. He writes Angus letters. Did you know that?” 

 

“I did not, thanks for the prime material right there.” She smirked. Kravitz knew he’d pay for that in some way or another. Probably have to make dinner for a couple nights, before Taako gave up and helped him.    
  


Lup leaned back and eyed his attire, wrapped up in fleece as he was. 

  
“You don’t have to keep wearing that, you know. I appreciate the thought, but it’s probably itchy as fuck.”   
  
Kravitz, who had already resolved to wear the not-really-that-awful sweater all night simply out of respect for Lup putting in the time to make  _ him _ something, had a newfound determination to not only wear it for the rest of tonight, but when they, and Taako and Barry, went to dinner next Friday also.    
  
“No, I like it.” He said firmly, pulling at the hem to stretch the pattern to be more visible. The black yarn was wound tightly together, the stitches even enough for someone out of practice, with a pale grey skull smiling at whoever looked at the sweater, complete with red eyes and a festive hat. Even if she hadn’t made it herself he’d still have liked it, tacky as it was. But she had. And he was enough of a… What was it Taako had called him, a sap? He was sappy enough that now it meant the world to him. 

 

“Besides, it’s not that bad. I can barely notice it now that I’ve worn it for a while.” He lied smoothly.    
  


“You mean it? That’s real sweet of you.” She was genuine with that comment. She opened her mouth to say something else before her name was called from the other room. Instead of finishing her thought, she leaned over and pecked him on the cheek.    
“Thanks, Skeletor. Happy Candlenights.” 

  
She hopped up to her feet and walked in the direction of Barry, who had wandered into the hallway holding a bowl from the kitchen. She dipped her finger in to taste it, before giving him a thumbs up, dipping her other finger and offering it to him instead. 

He smiled gratefully, opening his mouth before she zagged on him and put the food on his nose instead. Happy with herself, she walked back into the kitchen, leaving Barry red-faced and grinning at his prankster of an elf. 

 

He chuckled to himself, wondering how his own lover was faring when a hissing voice caught his attention. 

 

“PSSSST!”    
Kravitz’ head swivelled to the source of the noise, and speak of the devil-

“What is it, Taako?” 

 

“Shhh! Come on.” He whispered, pulling Kravitz the long way around back to the kitchen. 

“I’m about to call these chucklefucks up to get their plates, and knowing you, you’ll let Mags go before you and you won’t get enough, so here, make your plate. 

 

“That’s not fair, love I-” Taako kissed him before he could finish, wrapping his hands around his waist, one playfully patting at his ass as he pulled away.    
  
“I don’t care about fair, I slaved over a stove all damn day and if you don’t enjoy enough of my wonderful fuckin’ cooking there’ll be hell to pay.”   
  
“But I don’t even need to eat-” Taako ignored him, piling food onto a plate for him. Kravitz sighed, “Here love, I’ll finish it,” and gently took it from him.    
  
“Fuckin’ right you will.” He said smugly, smirking to himself as he studied Kravitz’s choices.    
Laid on the table was a spread of food Kravitz couldn’t have made if his life depended on it. 

 

Homemade rolls, golden brown and covered in sesame seeds, were heaped in a bowl next to a steaming dish of carrot, potato, and yam mash, garnished with parsley and a fine red powder. 

A large turkey, skin crisp and well-seasoned, and the shining glazed ham sat front and center, Lup’s masterpieces. Artichoke Bruschetta, as Taako explained, gesturing to the dish, was Merle’s vegetarian option. The grill marks across the homemade bread was topped with a finely chopped mixture of garlic and artichoke and a whole lemon wedge topping each portion. They were beyond appetizing, but Kravitz would wait until after Merle had had his fill to try a piece. 

 

Roasted vegetables, two types of gravy; more food than Kravitz had probably eaten the entire time he was a reaper, at least before he had met Taako. He didn’t doubt there would be few leftovers though. Between Magnus, Killian, and Carey, they’d have enough of an appetite to make short work of whatever the others had left, with their muscle. 

 

Kravitz finished his plate off, and turned to Taako, who pursed his lips. 

“You aren’t going to try the gravy?” he muttered, and Kravitz wrapped his free hand around Taako’s waist and kissed his cheek.    
“I didn’t think I’d need any, everything you make is perfect. What should I add it to?” 

“The potatoes, natch. Lup made those. I told her she needed more butter, buuuut-.” He clicked his tongue and laughed, grabbing the boat from the dish and splashing a generous helping onto his plate. “Go sit, bubele. I’ll be around in a sec.”

 

Taako shooed him away as he undid his apron - a frilled little purple thing with a cartoon man in a chef’s outfit proudly announcing that “There will be no bitchin’ in my fucking kitchen”, hanging it up on a hook and calling for the crew to come eat. 

 

The dining table had been set more elegantly than he had expected, with place cards at each seat and bottles of wine and other spirits along the table. More forks and knives than were necessary sat atop a woven placemat, and Kravitz moved his own name card aside - decorated with a crude skull, he noted with a smirk - and sat and waited. Taako quickly joined him with his own plate balanced on his forearm so he could bring two glasses of some mixed drink to Krav. 

 

“You could have at least let me get drinks, Love, you’re already doing so much.”   
  
“Krav babe, you can pamper me as much as you want any other day of the year - in fact, I insist on that part - but when I’m playin’ host you let me play host, ‘kay?” and took a sip of his drink, to cement his point.

 

The others filed in slowly and the soft atmosphere of the room was quickly replaced with the same vibe of love and energy it was in the other part of the house. They ate. And they talked.    
And Kravitz felt happy.    
Barry had turned to him during the dinner to ask him about some of Kravitz’s coolest jobs, now that he and Lup were new initiates to the “Reaper Squad” as Lup had put it. 

 

And he regaled them. Soon, dinner was finished, they chatted through dessert, and Angus called them all around the bush. He had a bag under the tree addressed to: Top Secret - Taako, Please Don’t Look!, that he’d been nervously glancing at whenever he thought people weren’t paying attention to him. 

 

“Uh, so school is very important, but also very expensive, so I couldn’t find it in my budget to buy you all something both meaningful and affordable -”   
  
“Well if you’d gone to  _ my _ school…” Taako snarked.    
  


“Sir, I need a prep course first, don’t you think?” Angus replied smoothly, used to this debate by now. 

“As I was saying, I didn’t think I could  _ buy  _ you all gifts, so I made you some instead… I hope you like them.” He trailed off, reaching in and handing each a small packet of paper. Kravitz perked up as he was handed one as well, not really expecting to receive anything from anyone but Taako.    
  
Featured on the cover of a handmade comic book was a picture of Kravitz, smiling, with his usual velour cape, 3-piece suit and scythe, all drawn somehow both expertly, and childlike, all in crayon.    
  


Davenport and Merle get a joint comic, Merle reaching down and squeezing Davenport’s hand, eyebrows wiggling, while Davenport let out a chuckle, ruffling Angus’ hair.    
Lup immediately shouts a  _ hell yeah, _ tossing it to the side to scoop up Angus in a bear hug. Kravitz could see Lup, arms in the air, mischievous expression on her face, and surrounded by flames. Barry blushed, stuttering over his words, and insisting that he couldn’t be happier.    
  


Magnus almost didn’t let Angus move onto the next comic book, tears welling up, insisting that Angus was gonna get something really cool carved come the summertime. Lucretia flipped through it, praising angus on his thoughtful writing, and he looked like sunbeams were going to knock off his hat if he was any happier. Carey did their handshake, Angus struggling to keep up, but keeping it in clutch and making it in the end.    
  
Angus saved Taako for last, handing his to him proudly, bolstered by praise and confident. Taako looked at the cover, set it down, and patted his head.    
“You gotta work on your shading there, lil bro.” 

 

If it were anyone but Kravitz and the IPRE crew, they might have thought that he was genuinely critiquing his art. But they could all see what was verging on tears welling up in the corner of his eye, and he sniffed. “Got my hat on point though. Good… Good job.” 

 

“Thank you sir!” Angus exclaimed, wrapping him in a hug. Taako froze, arms in the air, before letting himself relax, draping a hand over his hair and giving him a squeeze.    
“No prob, kiddo.” And Angus, stars in his eyes, parted to go and sit on Magnus’ lap again before Mags literally dragged him back, insisting that Angus read it to him, and tell him all about the process of making it. 

 

“You okay, love?” Kravitz asked softly, not wanting to draw too much attention.    
“I’m fine, the kid’s just out to get me. Just look at this shit.” Taako flipped through the book. “How can I live up to this? I’ll be ruined!” He exaggerated, hands emoting wildly. 

“You’ll find a way. You always do.” Kravitz reassured him, before pecking him on the cheek. 

 

“Ew!” Lup shouted. “Get a room, sickos.” 

 

Taako scoffed. “That’s rich. As if I didn’t have to deal with you  _ monsters _ shoving your tongues down each other’s throats every chance you got for 2 whole fucking cycles. Get a room, my ass…” He muttered, standing up, and pacing away.    
“Taako..?”    
“Come on Krav, they want us to get a room, we’re getting a fucking room.”   
“What!?” 

“It’s gonna be  _ Lup’s Room _ !” He shouted, as Kravitz stood up quickly and followed him, confused. 

“I swear to god if you do  _ anything _ on our bed I will literally murder you Taako. You will make your sister cry. I will cry as I kick your ass, Koko, do you want that?!”   
  


There was a brief pause, and the group was silent waiting to see if he had a response. Lup looked ready to bolt after them at a moments notice. 

“ _ Yes!”  _ He shouted back with mock-anger, and Lucretia couldn’t help but giggle.

 

Kravitz walked into the empty bedroom behind Taako. 

“Shut the door, Krav.”   
  
“What are you doing, Taako?” Kravitz was confused. This was weirdly far for a goof of this caliber. And Kravitz was all for helping Taako with his goofs, but when they started to lose the plot he wanted to get it back on track.    
  
“Just messing with ‘em, mostly. If we stay here long enough they might actually think we’re fucking though so this can’t take too long. I just want a second to chill. Angus gut punched me there.” 

 

“Aw, who’s a sap now.” 

 

“Still you, loser.” He playfully shoved him. 

 

“Actually, this is nice. I wanted to talk to you about something…”   
  
“Yeah? What is it.” Taako smirked. 

 

That… 

  
That wasn’t what he expected. Normally he would be a little nervous, a tinge of worry in his expression when Kravitz wanted to talk about something, even if nothing was wrong. 

But this. Smug, almost disinterested. Kravitz lost his train of thought. 

 

“I, uhm. I had been thinking about something for a while, love, and I-” 

  
Taako picked at a hangnail. Something was up, he wasn’t even looking at him. 

 

“Love, are you ok?” 

“Hm? Yeah, I’m fine. What’d you want to talk about you stopped in the middle of your sentence there.” 

 

“I… Taako, you know I love you.”   
  
“I love you too, bubele.  _ What’s up? _ ” He said firmly, uncrossing his legs. 

 

“I just-” Kravitz went to reach into his pocket and…

Uh. 

 

Kravitz had a small moment of panic while he tried to subtly pat his other pockets. 

Where…

 

“Are you looking for something, Kravvy?” 

 

Kravitz whipped his head up. Taako sat there knowingly, holding the small, black velvet box atop his open palm. 

Kravitz flushed. He hadn’t even noticed when Taako had pickpocketed it from it.    
_ When _ had he even taken it?    
  
“You’re sweet.” He said, voice lilting mischievously, flicking open the box. “Sapphire’s my favorite color. But  _ come on _ Krav. You know I like to call the shots.” 

 

And Taako stood up, smoothed out his shirt, and turned to Kravitz. 

 

“I’m not gonna lie to you, sweetheart, I hadn’t been thinking about this. Didn’t think you were either, but you were lugging this weird box thing around so I swiped it from you before dinner thinking it was earrings or something. Wanted to see if they matched my outfit, and I’d surprise you.” He laughed. “Yeah. Big surprise for Taako. Kind scared me a ‘lil, since we’re being honest up in this motherfucker.” 

 

“Taako, I-” 

 

“I know, you love me. I love you too. So I thought about it. Probably chugged too much vodka before pocketing this and making our drinks, but whatever, I thought about it. I thought about saying no.” He admitted. 

  
“Thought about ditching this shindig and leaving you high and dry, but that was just the Trauma talking. And then I realized, you know? I could actually do that. Marry you. Not right away, we can wait. Got lots to plan, if we’re gonna do this right, anyway.”

 

Kravitz could feel the telltale heat of tears in his eyes as he smiled at his elf. 

 

“So I guess…” Taako shrugged and got down on one knee in front of Kravitz, who sat dumbfounded on the end of the bed, wondering why he expected this to go any differently. 

“Krav, will you marry me?” And Taako held up the small box. 

  
And before Kravitz could nod enthusiastically, they heard a sound just outside the door. And it opened and Magnus rushed into the room with Fantasy Ghibli tears in his eyes and scooped Taako into a bear hug. 

 

“My bro’s gonna get married!” He sobbed into Taako’s shoulder, as the rest of his family peered in the door curiously. 

 

“Let go of me, assbag! He hasn’t even said yes yet.” Taako grunted, pushing at Mag’s shoulder trying to wrench himself out of his grasp. 

 

“Sorry, I got too emotional. I didn’t want to miss it.” He sniffled, clasping his hands in front of his chest and waiting patiently for them to continue. 

 

Taako scoffed, and turned to Kravitz. “Well?”   
  
“Of course I’ll marry you.” Kravitz answered him, heart bursting, wanting nothing more than to hold him as he stood up and embraced him. 

 

“Excuse me. You didn’t ask  _ me _ if you could marry Taako. He’s basically my kid.” Merle said indignantly. 

 

“He asked me.” Davenport shrugged.    
“Me too.” Lup said as well, at the same time as Taako murmured, “I’m a fully realized creation, you don’t have to ask them shit…” 

Merle grumbled something under his breath at that, and Davenport patted his shoulder reassuringly.

  
“You assholes knew he was gonna pull this stunt and you just  _ let him _ ?!” Taako exclaimed. 

 

“Well you wanted to, didn’t you?” Lup laughed. 

 

“Yeah but that doesn’t mean you knew that.” 

 

“Come on, Koko.” She shook her head, “You think I don’t know you well enough? Really?” 

 

“Pfft. Get out of here, and let me have my moment.” He said, making shooing motions with his hands at the crew. Magnus complied, but Lup stayed put. 

 

“We’ve got that Twin Telepathy, Taako.”   
  
“If we have Twin Telepathy, you’d know I want you to get out!” He said, pushing her with all his weight. 

 

“We shared a womb, Koko!” She laughed as she tried to keep steady, falling over a bit. “Our brains are intertwined like a fucking Pull ‘n’ Peel Twizzler man, you can’t hide dick-all from me!”   
  
“I’m trying to make a touching memory with my fiancé. Fucking get OUT!” He pushed her over the threshold and slammed the door shut. 

 

“God, some people, right?” He muttered incredulously. 

 

“Yeah. Some people.” Kravitz agreed, closing the distance between them. It was unacceptable that he hadn’t kissed him yet. 

 

He pulled Taako in close, brushing a stray bit of hair from his face and looked him in the eyes, and Taako looked right back, with an expression he didn’t see too often from the elf. 

Soft and almost vulnerable, filled with trust and love. Unguarded like he seldom was.    
  
He looked at Kravitz like everything could be perfect. 

 

And he kissed him. And then it was. 

 

“Happy Candlenights, Taako.”

“Happy Candlenights, Kravitz.”


End file.
